Ore-car



(No Model.) M. C. ENSMINGER 83 J. W. SMITHAM.

ORE GAR.

No; 512,173. Patented'Jan; 2, 1894.

ATTORNEY.

ms NAYIOPHL gnuoanmwme COMPANY.

wnsummcm. u. e

MICHAEL O. ENSMINGER AND JOHN W. SMITHAM, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

ORE-CAR.

$PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,17 3, dated January2, 1894.

Application filed April 3, l 893.

To all whom 232? may concern:

' Beit known that we, MICHAEL C. ENSMINGER and JOHN W. SMITHAM, citizensof the United States of America, residing at Denver, in the county ofArapahoe and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Ore-Oars; and we do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to thefigfigures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

Our invention relates to improvements in ore cars, and the object of theimprovement is to provide a car of this class whose end door shall openautomatically as soon as the car body is lifted to a suitableinclination, and automatically return to the locking position when thecar body again assumes the horizontal.

To this end the improvement consists of the features hereinafterdescribed and claimed, all of which will be fully understood byreference to the accompanying drawings, in which is illustrated anembodiment thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the car, the dumpingposition of the body being indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a frontend view of the same. Fig. 3 is a top or plan View of the platform,thecar body being removed. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the means forlockingthe car bodyin the upright position.

Similar reference characters indicating corresponding parts or elementsof the mechanism in the several views, let the numeral 5 designate thecar body pivoted forward of its center of gravity, to the platform 6which is mounted on the trucks 7.

As shown in the drawings, the axis of the car consists of the bolts orrivets which pass through the coinciding apertures of counterpart lugsformed on the car body and platform respectively, as indicated at S.

The car is locked in the upright or horizontal position by means of abell crank-lever 9 located between the rearwardly projecting bars 10 ofthe frame-work, which approach each other as they extend backward. Lever9 is fulcrumed at 12. One arm projects up- Serial No. 468.913. onmodel.)

wardly and is provided with a hook which enters the aperture formed in adepending plate 13 attached to the rear extremity of the car body. Theother arm of the lever projects outwardly from the fulcrum, and occupiesapproximatelya horizontal position. The lever 9 is provided with a shortarm 9 which extends inward from the fulcrum and engages the lowerextremity of a coil spring 11, whose upper extremity bears against a topplate 15 made fast to the bars 10. This top plate is slotted as shown at16 to receive the upright arm of the lever and to allow said arm therequired movement. The top plate15 is provided with apertu red wingsorprojections15 to permit the attachment of the dead chains 26 which aresecured to the track. The object of this connection is to prevent thepossibility of the cars going over the dump on steep inclines. The door17 of the car is pivoted at the top by means of a rod 18 which passesthrough coinciding apertures formed in lugs 17 and 5 respectively withwhich the door and the sides of the car are provided. The door isprovided with lateral projections 1'7 which engage the hooked outerextremities 19 of the arms 19 which are made fast at their innerextremities to the platform 6 by means of bolts or rivets as shown at 19or in any other suitable manner. These hooked arms lie outside of thevertical planes of the sides of the car body, whereby the latter isallowed to move freely therebetween, as during the operation of dumpingand returning to the horizontal position.

To dump the car, the foot is placed upon the outer horizontal arm of thebell-crank lever which is depressed sufficiently to detach the upper armof the lever from the depending apertured plate. The car body is thenunlocked, but as its center of gravity is located to the rear of itsaxis, it remains in the horizontal position until its equilibrium isdestroyed by lifting upon the handle attached to its rear end, when itat once assumes the inclined or dumping position. As soon as the carbody has moved a short distance downward, the door 17 is unlocked fromthe hooked stationary arms 19 and swings outward on its pivot or axis tothe vertical position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. When the car bodyis againmoved to the upright position, the

KOO

movement of the door is reversed, and it returns to the locked positionwith its lateral projections engaging the hooks of the lockin g 7 arms.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is- 1. In an ore car,the combination with the platform suitably mounted, of the car bodypivoted on the platform and having one end hinged at the top of the carand provided with lateral projections, and the hooked locking armsrigidly secured to the platform of the car, their hooked extremitiesbeing adapted to receive the lateral projections of the door,substantially as described.

2. In an ore car, the combination with the car body pivoted on asuitable platform and provided with a doorhinged at thetop, of the

